Sins of the Future
by Tarn
Summary: The Countdown to Destruction has begun, Aquitar has fallen and Billy makes a desperate trip to get help, but an accident sends him back in time, can he get back home before all is doomed, and without causing a paradox?
1. Escape

**Sins of the Future   
Lee Burton 2002**

**Legal Crap:** I do not own the characters used within this story, all characters are copyright by MMPR Productions/Disney. The "transit" system mentioned is borrowed from Rain Fletcher's Earthsiege as a means for FTL travel. The concept and use of the word "Avatar" to describe the holographic ship aid is borrowed from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda all rights related to this belong to the property holders. 

**Author's Note:** The following story starts in an AU version of the PRiS era during the infamous Countdown. The remainder takes place during Billy's trip to Aquitar to aid in the conflict with the Hydro Contaminator's during PRZ. 

**Chapter One: Escape   
Aquitar Ranger Command, 2000 **

"Quick! It's over this way!" A voice shouted as three figures sped through the cold metal hallways, barely slowing down to make a turn as a barrage of laser blasts pelted the wall behind them. 

"The shuttle bay may be damaged! Billy, you had best put on your Oxidizer now." A young woman garbed in white shouted back as best she could while running. 

"Thanks Delphine!" Billy replied as he pulled a retainer like device from his pockets and put it in his mouth. 

Making their way down another hall, they arrived at a closed door. A man dressed in red placed his hand against a panel on the door, but the door visibly jammed as it opened. 

"Damn! Help me out with this Aurico!" Billy muttered and began to pry the door open, which started to budge with Aurico's assistance. Their efforts were hampered by another barrage of laser fire as the invading Quantrons turned the corner. 

Delphine began returning fire with a small blaster she pulled from her belt. "Aurico, this is taking too long, we need to transform!" 

"Yes, it's Morphin Time!" Aurico agreed, and the two were surrounded in a blinding flash of light before being protected by their respective Ranger armor. 

Aurico, empowered by his transformation into the Red Aquitian Ranger, managed to get the door open. 

"Quick Billy, you need to get to your ship! We will hold them off!" Delphine shouted back as she dodged another volley of shots. 

Billy managed to squeeze his way through the door and once on the other side he turned to check on his companions only to see them overwhelmed by the invading troops. He watched in horror as the close range blaster shots ripped through their armor and the two Rangers crumpled to the ground defeated and likely dead. 

"No!" He cried, but suddenly realized his error as the blaster fire was now concentrated on him, and without Ranger powers, he was in some serious trouble. 

Realizing he had no choice but to flee, Billy scanned the bay for his ship, praying it was untouched. Luckily, it seemed to have fared far better than the other ships in the bay, as many had been crushed by falling debris. He bolted towards the ship as fast as his legs would allow, wishing he had the enhanced speed and reflexes that his Morphin ranger powers once provided. 

Arriving at the ship, he gave it a quick once over before making his way up the ladder and into the craft. 

Once he was inside, Billy made his way to the cockpit. "Avatar, Start the engines, we're about to take some serious heat!" 

As he reached the cockpit, a hologram appeared of a young blonde woman. "Billy, what's wrong?" 

"The entire complex has been overrun by Quantrons, the rangers are dead. We need to get the others." Billy explained as he strapped himself in. He could see that the Quantrons had infiltrated the bay and were checking for his life signs. 

"Engines are standing by. Docking clamps are unresponsive though." The hologram replied. 

"We'll just have to bust our way out of here then!" Billy said as he turned his attention to the controls and put the throttle to maximum. The ship jerked violently as it struggled to free itself, and in a sudden burst of power, ripped away from the docking clamps and headed for the exit. 

Alerted to their presence, the Quantrons turned their aim to the fleeing craft. 

"We're under attack, but the blasts are not powerful enough to breach the hull." Avatar responded as they continued towards the exit. 

What they didn't see was the Quantron setting up the Rocket Launcher. 

"Ten seconds to the gate." Avatar reported and a few tense seconds passed before she exclaimed "Incoming projectile weapon!" 

In an attempt to avoid the rocket, Billy jerked his controls to the left, but was unable to move in time and the projectile passed through the hull and detonated, rocking the ship violently. 

"Damage report!" Billy cried out as he tried to keep the craft from veering into one of the walls. 

"Explosion in the engine room, plasma intercoolers are offline." Avatar replied, her holographic image fading in and out from the damage. "We're clear of the complex." 

The ship rocketed out of the fallen complex and headed towards the atmosphere, a trail of smoke following behind. 

"Do we have enough power to clear the atmosphere?" Billy asked, suddenly concerned about the intercooler failure. 

"We should be able to make it through the atmosphere, however, the chroniton field generators are overheating, and any attempt to jump to transit could detonate the reactor." Avatar explained after a few moments of calculations. 

"Could we lower the generator temperature if we totally depressurize the engine compartment?" 

"Exposing the engine compartment to space decreases the probability of a reactor explosion by 13%" 

"What does that bring us to?" Billy didn't really want to hear the answer, but he needed to know anyways. 

"82%" 

"Fantastic." Billy replied angrily. 

"Sarcasm never suited you Billy. We're entering the thermosphere by the way." Avatar replied with a crooked smile as the ship began vibrating from the entry into the upper atmosphere. 

"Enemy craft approaching, we need to get out of here and fast." Avatar warned as three of Mondo's Quadrafighters approached from the rear. 

"How long until we clear the atmosphere, we're going to have no choice but to jump to transit. Depressurize the engine room, begin charging the coils, and lay in a course for Earth." Billy ordered as he rerouted a small amount of power to the weapons system. 

"Twenty seconds to clear the atmosphere." 

"Please record a message on my mark, and transmit it repeatedly on all Ranger carrier frequencies. Mark. SOS, this is Billy Cranston requesting assistance, Aquitar has fallen to Dark Specter's forces and my ship is severely damaged. I am attempting to make the jump to transit and make my way to Earth to gain the assistance of any available Power Rangers. If you are engaging the enemy, good luck, and may the power protect you." 

"Five seconds." Avatar reported, and only a second later, the ship lurched from a laser blast from one of Mondo's fighters. "Aft hull plating is depolarized, another hit like that and we lose the engines." 

"Disengage the safeties, and jump to transit on my mark. May the power protect us." Billy choked out as he tightened his harness to make sure he didn't get killed from whiplash. 

"We have cleared the atmosphere." Avatar reported and Billy then triggered the jump. "NOW" 

The engines on the tiny ship began to glow a fiery blue color, and only a second before the ship vanished, one of the Quadrafighters let off a blast at the ship. 

Billy felt the transit system start to kick in, but a sudden violent shake indicated something was wrong. 

"WARNING: Emitter failure, chroniton leak in reaction chamber…" Avatar started to report before everything faded to black. 

A moment later, the tiny craft vanished in a blue stream headed for Earth. 

**To be continued...**


	2. Discovery

**Sins of the Future   
Lee Burton 2002**

**Legal Crap:** I do not own the characters used within this story, all characters are copyright by MMPR Productions/Disney. The "transit" system mentioned is borrowed from Rain Fletcher's Earthsiege as a means for FTL travel. The concept and use of the word "Avatar" to describe the holographic ship aid is borrowed from Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda all rights related to this belong to the property holders. 

**Author's Note:** The following story starts in an AU version of the PRiS era during the infamous Countdown. The remainder takes place during Billy's trip to Aquitar to aid in the conflict with the Hydro Contaminator's during PRZ. 

**Chapter Two: Discovery   
1996 - Angel Grove, CA**

Two men navigated their mountain bikes down the trails in the mountains surrounding Angel Grove. Stopping for water, they removed their helmets. "Hey Adam, I'm all out of water, can I take a hit of yours?" the young man asked. 

"You should have brought more then Rock…" Adam said, tossing his water bottle at his friend. 

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Rocky admitted, but suddenly was distracted. "What the hell?" 

"What is it?" Adam turned to see what Rocky was looking at. 

A flaming object could be seen plummeting from the atmosphere towards the harbor. Only moments later, their communicators chimed out an alert. 

"Yes Zordon, we see it too. What is it?" Adam called into the communicator. 

"THE OBJECT IS A SMALL CRAFT, AND IT IS PUTTING OUT SECURE RANGER ACCESS CODES. CODES BELONGING TO BILLY." Zordon explained, putting them into a panic. 

"Billy isn't supposed to be back yet though! His ship looks to be on fire, can you teleport the craft into the Zord bay?" 

"IT APPEARS THE CRAFT MAY HAVE BEEN ATTACKED, I CANNOT GET A LOCK SINCE IT IS PLUMMETING SO FAST. ONCE IT LANDS, I WILL TRY TO TELEPORT IT HERE." 

"We'll be right there Zordon." 

The two headed back over to their bikes, grabbed onto them, and teleported themselves off the mountaintop over to the Power Chamber. 

**Power Chamber**

Two colored bursts of hued light in the indicated the arrival of the two Rangers, who then saw their teammates arrive only moments later. 

"Zordon, what's the emergency?" Katherine asked after she got her bearings. 

"As I have already informed Adam and Rocky, a craft was detected entering the Earth's atmosphere. It looks to have been attacked, and has crash-landed out in the harbor, but my concern is that the ship was transmitting Billy's secure codes." Zordon explained with a grim expression on his face. 

"Oh no! We've got to help him. Can we breathe underwater while morphed Alpha?" Tanya asked 

"Yes Tanya. Your helmets pull the oxygen from the water and allow you to breathe. The suits will also prevent decompression and other ailments from being underwater." Alpha explained while checking for the exact location of the crashed ship. He then grabbed a small beacon and handed it to Tommy. 

"Place this beacon on the side of the ship, I can't get a lock on the ship without one as there is too much iron in the harbor seabed." Alpha then added. 

"Lets get going then. It's Morphin Time!" Tommy replied, in a hurry to make sure his friend is safe. The five rangers followed through with their morphing, and vanished from the chamber. 

"Alpha, I didn't want to worry the Rangers, but Billy never mentioned returning from Aquitar so soon, I am unsure why he did not contact us first." 

"Maybe his communication systems were damaged." 

"Perhaps." 

**Angel Grove Harbor**

The five Zeo Rangers appeared at the bottom of the harbor in a multicolored explosion of light. Once they each had their bearings, they began to look for the ship. It didn't take very long, as the craft was embedded in the seabed, leaving a trail of debris, but another thing concerned the Rangers, the air bubbles coming from the ship's damaged hull. Billy would drown if they couldn't get him out soon. 

"We need to hurry!" Adam communicated to the others and they began swimming over to the craft. Once near the craft they could see that the ship had taken a serious beating, not only during the crash landing, but also beforehand, the hull scarred by laser fire. 

Tommy quickly placed the teleportation beacon on the side of the ship, "Okay Alpha, teleport us and the ship to the Zord holding bay." 

Moments later, the bottom of the harbor was once again only inhabited by the plant life, sea creatures, and the powerless DragonZord. 

**Zeo Zord Holding Bay – Power Chamber**

A violent gush of water came from out of nowhere as the ship and Rangers materialized, bringing a large amount of water with them, which harmlessly flooded into drains in the holding bay floors. 

The five Rangers got back to their feet and swarmed the craft looking for a way inside. Tanya was the first to see a small entry hatch in the side of the ship, "Guys, look!" 

She then approached the hatch and tried to rip the panel from the ship, "It won't budge." 

"Try your blaster at maximum, you might be able to cut the panel." Tommy suggested as he continued to survey the craft, looking for any other possible entry, 

Tanya did as suggested, and found that while it was a slow process, she was able to cut through the thick metal. 

Soon enough, the panel fell to the side and Kat made her way inside, having grabbed a med-kit from the wall of the holding bay while Tanya was cutting. She found herself inside of what appeared to be a small hallway, just barely large enough for a human to navigate through. Deciding that the cockpit was a good place to start, she headed in that direction. 

Meanwhile Adam made his way inside and headed for the back to survey the damage and make sure the ship wasn't a danger to them or the Zord fleet. Making his way to the back, he found what he figured was a hatch to the engine compartment. He grabbed for the lock arm and attempted to rotate it counter-clockwise, but something had locked the door from another source. 

"Maybe the damage triggered some kind of protective measures. I'll have to get the computer back online to unlock it." He spoke to the empty passage before turning back. 

Back in the front of the ship, Katherine had made her way to the cockpit door, but was unsure of what she would see on the other side. Opening the door, she gasped at the sight of an unconscious figure slumped over in the control seat. 

Moving quickly to check the pilot, her fears were realized when she moved Billy back into an upright position. That was when things got a little weird, other than the electrical burns and pale skin that she expected to find, she noticed that his hair was also shoulder length, and he looked quite a bit older. Checking his pulse, she went cold at the realization that he had no pulse and was likely dead. 

Opening a channel to Alpha, she called out, "Alpha, its Billy, teleport us to sickbay now!" 

Seconds later, a pink and white flash filled the cockpit, and the two vanished from the ship. 

While checking the damage to the ship, Rocky noticed the flash of light from the cockpit. "Guys, Kat just teleported out, if it is Billy, he must be hurt." 

At that moment, Adam returned from the hatch to hear the news, "Let's get over there then." He said to the other rangers who nodded in agreement, and moments later vanished from the holding bay. 

**Power Chamber Sickbay**

Four hued flashes of light marked the Rangers entrance into the sickbay, where they saw Kat and Alpha attending to a man with long blond hair. "Wait a minute, that's not Billy..." Tanya said as she approached, but then got a good look at the face. "Oh man…" 

She returned to the others, "It's him." 

"Kat, what's going on?" Tommy asked the Pink Ranger, but she was much too busy to formulate a response. 

"Alpha, give me a cortical stimulator, set it to 350 joules." Kat demanded, to which the little robot grabbed an item from a tray, made some adjustment, and handed it to her, who then placed it on Billy's forehead, and stood back. 

The other Rangers watched in fright as the small device shocked Billy, causing him to convulse for a moment, before returning to a limp state. 

"Damn, no effect, 200cc of thrombolite." She requested, to which the robot grabbed a hypo-spray, inserted a tube of medicine and handed it to her. 

She administered the medicine to his neck, pressed a button on the stimulator, stood back and watched Billy once again convulse. 

"Kat, we have a rhythm." Alpha stated as a pulse began to emit from a monitor. 

To the observing Rangers, those minutes and the ones following were a blur. Kat and Alpha rushed around like maniacs for about 20 minutes, checking vitals and other tests they simply didn't understand. They were relived however, that Kat had taken an EMT course in the summer, and had gotten some medical know-how from the Power Chamber's databanks. 

After about half an hour, Kat removed her gloves and approached the others with a heavy sigh. "He is in a coma, but the worst is over, now we just wait." 

"Did you find out what happened, and why he looks so old?" Adam asked, worried about his comatose friend. 

"Alpha is running some blood analysis work, that may get us somewhere, but that will take a while to complete." Kat explained, wishing she had a better answer. 

"So what can we do?" Adam asked, a huge lump in his throat. 

"Nothing just yet." 

After a few moments of thought, Adam suggested "If I can get the computer in his ship back online I may be able to get an answer to what happened in the first place." 

"Great," Tommy said, "Let's get to work then. Kat, you'll keep an eye on Billy?" 

"Yes, I will contact you as soon as we get anything." 

**Billy's Ship**

"Damn!" Adam exclaimed as he was rewarded with a shower of sparks for his effort to reconnect the cockpit mains to a portable power cell. 

"What happened?" Rocky peered into the cockpit from the main corridor where he was working with Tommy to pull away some of the damaged panels. 

"I can't power the entire cockpit from here, I'm going to have to do it one terminal at a time." 

"Oh. Keep at it then." Rocky said before disappearing back into the corridor. 

"You do the same, I'm may need to access the power conduits behind those damaged panels." 

The Green Zeo Ranger then walked around the cockpit with his power cell and scanner. "Which one…" he thought aloud trying to figure out what all the equipment was. 

"Lets try this one…" Adam muttered as he reached down to the console and plugged his supply into a jack on the lower half of the terminal. 

Pressing a few buttons on the supply, he was pleasantly surprised to see the terminal begin powering up. 

"Yes!" 

Moments later, a familiar female voice rung out through the cockpit, "Secondary Power Source Detected, CPU core active…Loading Command Interpreter… Done. Loading Avatar Subsystem: Done. Starting Holographic Matrix." 

If Adam had been seated, he would have fallen out of his chair at what he then saw, but was stood up so he grabbed onto the console for support as he watched a holographic image appear and start to take shape. 

He watched as the image shifted into a female, but as the image became clearer, he recognized that the hologram was of Kat. 

"Guys, check this out!" Adam cried out, alerting the other Rangers who were tending to other parts of the ship. Piling into the cockpit they saw the hologram of Katherine solidify a little and turn to face them. 

"Intruder Alert. State your name…" 

"Adam Park, Green Zeo Ranger." 

"Accessing database…accepted. Adam, where is Billy and what is the current year?" The hologram replied, starting to take on more human speech patterns. 

"Um, he is in Power Chamber Sickbay and its 1996." Adam replied, unsure why it would want to know the year. 

"Error detected, Computer core lockdown initiated." Avatar replied, reverting back to a more monotonous speech pattern. 

"Oh no you don't..." Adam jumped up to the terminal controls and began frantically typing. The others watched on in confusion as to why Billy had a hologram that looked like Kat, and why it was locking down the computer core. 

**Power Chamber Sickbay**

Alpha 5 walked around checking the various monitors, waiting for something to happen. He had sent Kat to get some fresh air, as she was looking a little pale from what was going on. 

Suddenly alerted by a beeping tone, he approached the console where the blood sample was under analysis. After checking the results, he opened a channel to Zordon. 

"Zordon, the blood results are in, I think we may have a very big problem…" 

**To be continued...**


	3. Lockout

**Chapter 3: Lockout**

"Well," said Adam with a smug grin, "It's a good thing I paid so much attention to Billy about programmer's back-doors."

"You fixed it?" Tommy questioned as she stood in the doorway of the cockpit.

"Well, I managed to prevent the hologram from locking me out. This brings up even more questions, like why it locked me out to begin with."

Adam pressed a few buttons on the console and then grabbed his gear. "I should be able to get into the engine room now. I'll be back in a few."

Heading through the very narrow passage, Adam found his way back to the door to the engine compartment. Once again he tried to use the locking arm which had not budged last time, only this time it turned without further problems.

Entering the compartment, the first thing he noticed was that it looked like a war zone. Damaged wiring and broken control panels littered the outer walls of the compartment, while in the center, what Adam assumed was the engine core looked like it had scorch marks all over it.

"What did you get yourself into Billy?" Adam wondered aloud as he began running his scanner over the core.

**Power Chamber**

"Alpha, is it possible that Billy's exposure to his regeneration device could have caused his aged appearance?"

"Yes Zordon, but the thing is, the tachyon particles that were left in his bloodstream are dormant. I don't believe they had anything to do with it. In addition, his blood has far more elements only available on Aquitar present considering the amount of time he was there. It's like he has been there for years."

"I believe this merits further investigation. I will contact the Rangers and see if they have come up with anything else."

**Billy's Ship – Engine Compartment**

"What is a chroniton?" Adam wondered aloud as he read the display on his scanner. All he knew was that whatever a chroniton was, the core was flooded with them.

His thought process was interrupted however, by the beeping of his communicator.

"Yes Zordon?"

"ADAM, ANY PROGRESS ON THE STATUS OF THE VESSEL?"

"First off, the engine room looks like a bomb went off, and also this ship has some kind of holographic interface to the computer. It's programmed to look like Kat for some reason. Oh, and I just scanned the engine core, it's flooded with some kind of particle, Chronitons."

"EXCELLENT WORK ADAM, YOU SHOULD ALL GET SOME REST. WE WILL CONTACT YOU IF ANYTHING ELSE COMES UP."

"Um, shouldn't we keep going? I mean we don't know what happened to Billy yet."

"YOU NEED NOT OVERWORK YOURSELF. ALPHA CAN TAKE THINGS FROM HERE."

**Power Chamber**

"ALPHA, THE PRESENCE OF CHRONITON PARTICLES IN THE REACTOR OF THE SHIP CONFIRMS MY SUSPICIONS. THIS SHIP AND THIS VERSION OF BILLY ARE FROM THE FUTURE. THE RANGERS CANNOT BECOME FURTHER INVOLVED WITH THIS MATTER."

"Yes Zordon, they could cause a paradox if they tell our Billy anything later on." Alpha agreed with the Eltarian's decision.

"RANGERS, THIS IS ZORDON. IT IS LATE, RETURN TO YOUR HOMES. ALPHA CAN HANDLE THE SCANS ON THE SHIP FROM HERE. WE WILL CONTACT YOU IF BILLY'S CONDITION CHANGES."****

**Zord**** Holding Bay**

"What? Zordon, shouldn't we find out as much as possible?" Tommy asked, a touch confused about being told to basically leave.

"ALPHA CAN MAKE THE NECESSARY SCANS. I AM UNSURE OF HOW THE CHRONITON PARTICLES ADAM DISCOVERED WILL AFFECT YOU, WE WILL AIR ON THE SIDE OF CAUTION. ZORDON OUT."

Tommy looked to his teammates who all shared a confused look. "Why do I get the feeling that he isn't telling us everything?"

"I haven't eaten anything since this morning, how about we meet back up at my place and we can figure out what is going on." Adam suggested.

"Sounds good, something doesn't feel right about this." Tanya agreed, a look of confusion and a touch of irritation on her face.

**Outside of Power Chamber**

"Kat, I finished some of the scans, it looks like Billy was exposed to some kind of radiation. Zordon and I will keep an eye on him. We don't know what the effects may be on you. Return home and we will contact you if there is a change." Alpha explained to the Pink Ranger who was stood at a window where she was getting some air.

"But Alpha... I should be here, I can help" Kat protested, but Alpha continued.

"Zordon does not want to put you at risk, and I am inclined to agree. I promise to call you if there is a change." Alpha told her before pausing for a second. "I have to get back inside."

Kat looked on as he teleported back to the main chamber, totally confused about the little robot's actions. Something didn't feel right and she was determined to figure out what it was.

**Adam's House: Later that night**

"They're keeping something from us. I don't like it." Kat mumbled as the five Zeo Rangers sat in the basement living room of Adam's house, discussing the sudden change in attitude by Zordon and Alpha.

"What can we do about it?" Rocky asked, not sure that they really would have much say in it

"Do you think Billy is ok?" Tommy asked with nervousness apparent in his expressions.

"I'm not really sure. He is stable as far as Alpha and I could get him."

"And what was up with that hologram?" Rocky cut in, before getting a shoulder jabbed into his side by Tanya.

"What hologram?"

"Um... there was nothing really odd about it. The ship had a holographic assistant. That's all." Tanya told her friend, hoping it would sufficiently sate her curiosity. While the others were unsure about why it looked like Kat, Tanya had her suspicions and wasn't about to spill the beans.

Kat knew when her friend was covering up for something, but decided to play along for the moment. She would find out later anyways.

"Oh, okay… Anyways, do you think we'd really be at risk if we went back?" Kat replied, trying to mask her annoyance that the others were hiding something as well.

"I don't know for certain, but the ship was flooded with those particles. We may be safer letting them handle it."

"I don't like it, but I think you're right." Tommy agreed. "We let Zordon tell us when it's safe."

The other four Rangers nodded in agreement, although one had little intent of honoring it.

**Zord**** Holding Bay****, 2 AM**

A pink flash of light marked Kat's entrance into the dark holding bay. Armed with a flashlight, she made her way towards the ship.

"I don't know what they're hiding, but I aim to find out what it is."

Climbing through the hatch that they had used earlier, she found herself in the main corridor of the ship.

"Let's hope curiosity is asleep…" Kat mumbled as she headed for the cockpit.

Opening the door she scanned the room with the flashlight before coming across with the console that Adam's portable supply was keeping active.

"Let's see this hologram…"

Pressing a few keys on the console, she was rewarded by the crackle of light appearing to her side, forming into a human form. Her eyes went wide as the image solidified into her own image.

"What the… it's me." Kat was now really confused.

_"Identify yourself."_ The holographic image demanded.

"Katherine Hillard, Pink Zeo Ranger."

"Voice print match… I figured you would show up eventually." The hologram's speech pattern rather suddenly became more human.

"What do you mean, and why do you look like me?"

"I have determined that the chronotron leak in the reaction chamber brought us here. The current year is 1996, therefore Katherine Hillard, basis for my appearance is still alive."

The pink ranger let out a gasp at the response to her question. "Still alive?"

"Katherine Hillard was killed in the line of duty in 1997."

To Be Continued…


End file.
